Twin Cities
by Reigning Hobbitess
Summary: Fifteen hundred years apart, two famous cities and their inhabitants find a connection that changes their worlds. Spoilers for FFVII and FFX2. R & R
1. The City that Never Sleeps

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the Final Fantasy characters. But if I did... (Come here Cloud, good boy....)

**Author:** Reigning Hobbitess

**Rating:** I'll just have to see where this goes...

**Summary:** While learning about the Farplane, the occupants of the Airship Celsius contemplate what the future could be like. Little do they know how close their assumptions really are, or just what could come of their dreams.

**A/N:** Welcome to my first Final Fantasy based fan fiction. When I was playing FFX-2, the bizarre sequence when Shinra told Yuna about the Farplane spawned this entire fanfic and how I think FFVII might be related to FFX and X-2.

**Post Script:** Please review!

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**The Twin Cities**

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****

**Prologue**

Yuna stood around on the Bridge, antsy at the very thought that they would be descending into the Farplane in such a short amount of time, yet so deep in thought that she didn't notice her best friend and cousin flapping her hand emphatically in front of Yuna's face.

"Hey, Yunie!" Rikku called. She stopped her hand's wild motions and twisted her head so that she looked up at Yuna. Her irrepressible nature had caused even this venture to have a certain lighthearted feel, though Shuyin was trying to use Vegnagun to blow up the world.

"Mad that it wasn't him, Yunie?" Rikku tried to get her friend to respond.

"Hmm?" said Yuna absentmindedly. She finally noticed Rikku looking at her and she managed a regretful smile. "I really wish it was him, but this doesn't mean he's not still out there somewhere."

"'Course he is!" Rikku said as she jumped up and clapped her hands. Paine rolled her eyes, walked over and drawled monotonously, "Don't get her hopes up."

"Ooooooh, don't be such a spoilsport meanie!" Rikku stamped her foot to emphasize her indignation. "I'm not saying he's not out there," Paine explained as Rikku glared at her, "I'm just saying she shouldn't be disappointed if he isn't."

"I know he might not be out there," Yuna jumped in. "I can't give up hope, because he still could be out there." Yuna fondly remembered him. They hadn't known each other very long, but they had had a connection that Yuna couldn't ever remember feeling toward anyone else.

Everyone on the bridge was jilted out of their thoughts when Shinra called out, "I've been running an analysis on the Farplane, and I just found out something interesting!" Yuna stood looking over Shinra's head, Rikku and Paine on either side, with Buddy and Brother off in the back. They all looked on as Shinra began to excitedly explain his findings.

"Look at this!" he started, voice muffled by his gas mask, "I ran a test on the contents of the Farplane, and they came back with the weirdest stuff." He pulled up a small video clip of the Farplane, which was dissected and split up into various parts as he spoke. "Apparently, the Farplane's made up of some sort of energy, and lots of it. It's really strong stuff. I've never seen anything like it. It seems to flow down at the deepest parts, like a huge river of energy or something."

"So vat does this have to do vid us?" Brother asked contemptuously.

"Think about it! If we could harness that much energy, we could do anything. We could build cities like Zanarkand used to be, we could make them enormous! We could build more airships, and rebuild the places that were destroyed. The possibilities are endless. This could help us advance everything in Spira."

"You mean we could actually build cities? Huge ones, with lots of lights?" Yuna asked as she caught the fervor in Shinra's voice. "A city that never sleeps..." she drifted off before coming back to reality with a start. "We could make the biggest, brightest city ever, one that never sleeps."

"I think we could."

"Wow! I'd love to see that!" Rikku exclaimed.

"Me too," said Yuna dreamily. _'A city that is always awake and alive, full of people._ _That would be the coolest thing.'_ Yuna thought.

"Well, once you're all done dreaming about cities, we can get to the Farplane," Paine's impatient statement caused Yuna's thoughts to focus on the more pressing issue at hand.

"Right! Gullwings, lets go!"

* * *

**Several Weeks Later**

Tidus and Yuna stood, finally reunited, on the ruins of the once great Zanarkand. They looked out over the pyreflies that habitually floated around the ruins, lending the place an eerie and enigmatic look. Yuna smiled contentedly with Tidus standing behind and to the left of her, his hand holding hers. Wasn't this the way all good fairy tales were supposed to end?

She stared at the landscape, motionless but for the small glimmers of color that hovered over it. She wondered something.

"Do you remember what it looked like? Zanarkand?"

"Yeah, I do. It was huge, like you could walk through the entire city every day and not see the same person twice. And there were flashing lights and billboards everywhere. If you walked around at night, you could still see people all over, in shops and things. And the blitzball stadium! It was huge, like, three times the size of the one in Luca, and teams from all over the place came to play," Tidus reminisced. He stopped before he began his next thought.

"Wait, I'm not even from Zanarkand."

"No, but you still know what it looks like better than anybody else. I'm sure the fayth made your world as accurate as they could."

Tidus looked at the setting sun. "I guess you're right," he said regretfully. He was still finding it hard to believe that he was nothing more than the dream of a couple of bored spirits.

He and Yuna stood still for a few more moments. Yuna's mind flitted back to Shinra's discovery on the Farplane. She'd never told Tidus about it.

"Shinra thinks the Farplane's made up of a lot of swirling energy," she said to him.

"And?" said Tidus in his cocksure manner.

"He thinks we could harness the energy and build lots of things, like cities. Just like Zanarkand used to be, all full of lights."

"Really?" Tidus asked incredulously. Yuna nodded. "Wow, another Zanarkand in Spira," he breathed. "Why not? We should do it, Yuna! We could build it, it'd be great! You could see what Zanarkand used to look like, the way I remember it."

"That would be awesome," Yuna said.

Tidus grinned. "I just had a thought." Yuna giggled. "No? You?" she said. Tidus shoved her and started to laugh. "Hey! Show a little respect here, if that's not too much to ask!"

Yuna stopped laughing and stood up straight, the sides of her mouth slowly pulling upwards against her will.

"I thought up a name for the city," said Tidus.

"What would you call it?" Yuna queried, still vainly losing the battle against her mouth.

"Midgar."

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**A/N:** For those who have seen the complete ending of FF X-2, this should make sense. It's the very last scene changed around. Alright, please review, because most people don't unless I beg. 


	2. Station Woes

**Disclaimer:** None of the FF characters in the story are mine, although I hope Square would consider my offer to pay them in the gil I amassed during FFX.

**A/N:** WOW! I've never gotten so many reviews for the first chapter of any story! Now that I know there are people who like it, it makes it more satisfying to post. An ENORMOUS thanks to Major-Lauren-Carter, Grant, Judanim the Green Mage, Spooky Fyre, and Minako for your reviews.

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**Twin Cities: Station Woes**

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Everything was so blurry…so…_cloudy_.

He gave a small grimace. Cloudy.

No one had ever dared to call him that. Not even his mother.

Still…_cloudy_. He couldn't understand his sudden fixation with that word. But then, understanding had been a rather difficult task for the past five years.

Even now, he had no idea where he was, or how long he'd been sitting in the same position, head slowly rocking back and forth. His eyes fluttered before closing, only to reopen with a swift jolt several seconds later. His mind drifted. He remembered a large amount of grief, the death of someone close, but it was dulled by his mind's current state.

He just continued to sit, no agenda, just drifting.

* * *

Tifa Lockheart was heading back to her bar, 7th Heaven. 

Fear was omnipresent in her life the past few weeks, but tonight, she knew that she would be crossing the line of no return. She had promised her friend Barret Wallace that they could use the basement of her bar for the meetings of their new group, which would hold its first meeting tonight. They had finally reached the breaking point with Shin-ra, and had recruited such members of the neighborhood as thought it was time to take affirmative action.

Tifa wove her way around the abandoned train cars, meandering along. She had some time to kill before she had to be back, so she hopped around the train cars, avoiding some of the nastier monsters and climbing around the disheveled old train yard.

She climbed onto a dilapidated engine, gently wiggling her hands and feet into holds as she worked her way up. She scurried onto the top and looked around. Midgar. Once a prosperous city, even in the slums, now decrepit and nearly unlivable under the plate. It was a place people only lived when they had no place else to go, or who had ties to their houses: she couldn't really bring herself to call anything in the slums a remote resemblance of a home. She shook her head in disgust.

As she jumped to the next section of the train, Tifa's eyes happened upon a lone figure with its back braced against a small wall at the train station. She felt a small spring of pity come up for the poor soul. Probably just another homeless guy. Many people in the slums were.

She slid down a piece of metal placed like a ladder against the side of the car. Her footfalls scared a small cat out of its hiding place under the train, but she was too preoccupied at the moment.

An invisible pull was drawing her toward the man who sat at the train station. It was an indescribable line that was reeling her towards him. She often felt pity for the homeless in Midgar, but she had little enough to keep herself. So why was she heading towards this one? What singular quality made him so special?

A shock of fair hair greeted her in answer.

It _couldn't be_.

Tifa ran to him, heedless of everything else. He seemed to hear her, but he stayed put and his head reeled back and forth.

She hesitantly stopped a few feet away.

"Cloud?" she queried, gently moving closer.

He reacted to his name by turning his bobbing head in her direction. His eyes were completely out of focus, but she saw some recognition cross his features, and the grimace he was wearing faded.

"T–t-ifa?" he said. She knelt down next to him.

"Oh my god, Cloud, what happened to you?" She stared at her childhood friend in horror. He took a few moments to process her information, but he answered her in a far clearer tone, "I escaped…f-from Nibelheim. Came here."

Tifa was dumbfounded. Cloud had come to Midgar! Other questions vied for her attention, but her sole concern for the time being was her friend, whom she had given up for dead after the reactor accident over five years ago. Wait, no. He hadn't been there. She hadn't seen him since he left Nibelheim to join SOLDIER two years before that. She took a closer look and saw that he had changed, but he was definitely Cloud.

Cloud's previous lethargy was slowly leaving, and he could see more clearly now. He could remember Tifa, and with that memory, countless others flooded back. He sat as his mother, Sephiroth, Hojo, and many others floated back into his head. There was one face that he couldn't remember the name of, though. A mid size man with a heavy build, green eyes, and long, spiky black hair. Cloud dismissed him as a figment of his imagination. Besides, of all the people he could have happened upon, he had just run into the one he would have been happiest to see.

"Tifa, wha-? Where am I?" he asked as his head cleared and he could think properly.

"You're in Midgar," she replied. She quickly hugged him and dragged him to his feet. She took a closer look at him. He was not very tall, only a few inches taller than she, and was slim and well built. His face was the same as ever, but his large blue eyes held a very ethereal glow that she couldn't remember at all. He smiled at her with a weird overly happy and energetic smile that she also hadn't ever seen him wear. She quickly pushed her thoughts aside and smiled back at him.

"Why're you here? What happened to you? Come on, Cloud!" the words flooded out of her mouth and he shook his head and kept on smiling.

"Why don't we get out of here, and I'll tell you all about it?" he suggested. The nagging voice of 'something's wrong with him' only increased as Tifa heard him speak and watched his motions, but she again banished it. She began to drag him along, chattering, "I've got a bar that's not too far from here, and you can come with me, and–" Tifa was cut short as Cloud dropped to the ground with a groan and clutched his head as though in extreme agony.

"Cloud!" she cried. He rocked back and forth, jolting every so often as flashes of pain went across his face. They slowly stopped coming and he held his head while Tifa slowly brought him back to his feet.

"What was that?" she asked concernedly.

"I'm alright," he said forcefully, just like he always had as a child. He hated showing to her that even the great Cloud Strife could feel pain. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Yeah, right," she stated blatantly. She fixed his face with a stern look and he met her gaze. He groaned again and rubbed his hand across his face.

"I was used as a guinea pig by a guy who worked for Shin-ra named Hojo, okay? I've been sitting in a tube full of mako for five years, and I remember little bits and pieces of my life, but not much else," he said in a fairly neutral tone.

"Shin-ra?" Tifa echoed, "_Shin-ra_ did this to you? I wish – oooooh – they're gonna wish they'd never heard of AVALANCHE when we're done with them," she snarled.

"Wait, what's AVALANCHE?" Cloud said, bewildered. Tifa grinned. "A way to take out Shin-ra and save the planet," she said, "It'd be great if you'd join us, Cloud."

"Some days I think there isn't a way to stop Shin-ra," Cloud said disgustedly. "If I had the choice, I could stop it from ever creatin' this place," he gestured to their surroundings, "But saving the world, that's not my problem."

"Come with me," Tifa sighed. Cloud still looked disgusted and rather cold, a far cry from his initial goofy happiness, but he followed her.

'It's stupid to think that you can take down Shin-ra,' he thought. 'The only way that could happen we could do that would be to stop it from ever being created."

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**A/N:** Ahh, foreshadowing! Next chapter, more FFX and FFVII, and the beginnings of the real plot. Please, if you like this story, review. 


	3. Building One\'s Dreams

**Disclaimer:** I don't own nor am I affiliated in any way with Final Fantasy or Square-Enix. Maybe if they have jobs open when I turn 18…

**A/N:** I am terribly sorry that I haven't updated sooner! I hope to get at least this story down to a reasonable update schedule, so I'm going to try to update this **every other Saturday** from here on out. Also, a HUGE thanks once again to Judanim, Spooky Fyre, Terra, and Lilly for reviewing. I read your suggestions and hope to have some of your questions answered within the next few chapters. (Note this: FF8, for all intents and purposes, still takes place after FF7, but I may bring in our SeeD friends later.)

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**Twin Cities: Building One's Dreams

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**

Yuna and Tidus sat with a group of friends around the communal fire that blazed in the middle of Besaid village. With their return from their sojourn to the Zanarkand ruins completed, they were stopping in Besaid for a while to pay a visit to Wakka, Lulu, and, of course, the indefatigable Besaid Aurochs before heading back to the Celsius. The other members of the Gullwings were enjoying themselves with the other members of the village. Brother and Buddy had even started a dancing contest, much to the dismay of Paine and Shinra, the latter of whom had been dragged onto the stage multiple times only to run off in mingled stage fright and disgust.

Wakka continued to sit with his two younger friends once the festivities had reached a lull and people were beginning to head home. They had mentioned something about building something earlier on, only to laugh it off. Wakka's inner instinct warned him that they were surreptitiously skirting the issue when he attempted to query them about it. It was only now that they had begun to open up about it, since they were not in the midst of the revelry anymore.

"Look, Wakka, Shinra mentioned something before we defeated Vegnagun. He said that there was an enormous amount of energy stored on the Farplane; if we could use it, we could build a city like Zanarkand used to be!" Yuna exclaimed excitedly, searching Wakka's face for his reaction, which turned out to be a mixed one. He looked incredulous at the news, but it was obvious that he had his reservations about this project.

"You think there's enough energy in the Farplane to run a city, ya?" he replied. Tidus nodded excitedly.

"Think, Wakka! I know you still don't like machina and stuff like that, but couldn't you put that aside for a while and think about it for a while, you old man? Geez, you keep this up and you'll be worse than Auron was," he said sarcastically. Wakka rubbed tiredly at the base of his skull.

"Yeah, I guess so, but would you two stop an' think for a second?" he stared at them both with the, 'I'm older than you and I think you're jumping into this too quickly' look he gave when he doubted their motives or their knowledge of what they could bring about. "Maybe Spira's better off without any huge cities. When Zanarkand was big, so was Bevelle, and look what happened there! They pounded each other into the ground and then Sin came! What's to stop that from happenin' again?"

"Well, we don't have any power hungry summoners around just waiting to take their chance and turn themselves into enormous…_things_…so that they can terrorize us and do whatever they want…" Tidus kept on talking about all the reasons that it wouldn't go wrong while Yuna shook her head and addressed Wakka.

"What if we just try it, Wakka? Besides, we'll make sure nothing like that happens. What do you think now?" she asked. Wakka mulled it over for a few moments before he gave a grin and said, "A'right, fine, go do it, ya? But be careful." Yuna threw her arms around a very surprised Wakka while Tidus stopped his tirade and raised an eyebrow before mouthing, 'Awwwww' behind Yuna's back.

Not too far away, Shinra was busy repairing the Besaid commsphere that had been damaged when Jassu hit it with a blitzball. He thought about all they could do with this energy, they could change the _world_ with it! His mind flitted over all of the ideas it was producing, getting more and more excited with each one. He finally began to mutter his thoughts aloud to himself.

"Create generators……and…maybe, yes, YES….and maybe even use it to make medicine, or enhancements, or magic and stuff…._cool_…..make a whole army of _superpeople_….that would be _so_ awesome…."

Finishing up his work on the commsphere, Shinra headed back to the Celsius. Tomorrow they departed to assess the Farplane.

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Cloud shoved open the door to 7th Heaven; Tifa followed him in. 

The bar was nearly vacated, with the exception of a quartet that sat around a table in the far left corner. They laughed and conversed, tongues obviously loosened by alcohol, the remnants of several beer bottles strewn across the table. From the back, a little girl with a round, cherubic face, brown hair and eyes, and a pink dress emerged. She caught sight of Tifa and squealed in delight as she raced toward the woman.

"Daddy, look who came," she squealed to a large, brown, weather beaten and scarred man who shifted himself to look at them.

"Back already, Tifa? How'd it go?" he asked as he came toward them. Cloud looked the man up and down, suspicion etched on his already irritated and pensive looking face. The man swung the gun that had been grafted into his right arm out as he stretched with two hands for his daughter.

Cloud's reaction was instantaneous, he grabbed the hilt of his buster sword, stepping back a few paces as he looked around. "Who're you?" he snarled.

"Cloud!" Tifa cried. She came toward him, followed by the gun-arm man. "This is Barret Wallace," she continued, "He's the leader of AVALANCHE."

"PUT THAT DAMN THING DOWN!" Barret yelled. Cloud stared at Barret, aquamarine eyes blazing. It wasn't until he saw the girl bury her face in her father's shirt from fear that he finally lowered his blade. Barret began to yell at him the second he did.

"What th' hell d'ya think you're doin'! Who th' hell is this, Tifa? Don't ya dare think about hurtin' anybody in here, or I'll kill ya so fast –" he was curtailed by Tifa's scream of, "SHUT UP ALL OF YOU!"

"Barret, this is Cloud; Cloud, Barret," she introduced the two men as she calmed herself down and began to explain about Cloud's situation to Barret. "Cloud's a friend of mine from Nibelheim. He just showed up in town and I wondered if he'd be willing to join us, Barret," she dictated succinctly.

"Oh yeah? An' what makes him good enough to join us? Does he even know what we're doin'?" Barret growled while Cloud bristled.

"I know exactly what you're doin'," Cloud said as he glared back at Barret with his hackles raised, "And I think you're all a bunch of idiots for thinkin' that you could actually win against Shin-ra."

"How the hell would you know?" Barret sneered.

"Because I'm an ex-SOLDIER, first class," Cloud launched right back. Barret's face contorted into a look of pure hatred and rage, replacing the one of dislike and mockery that he had worn before. He raised his gun arm without a moment of hesitation. Cloud's reflexes caused him to unsheathe his enormous sword yet again.

"WILL YOU TWO STOP THIS FOR ONE MOMENT?" Tifa's glare could have frozen the fires of hell, and Marlene, Barret's daughter, began to cry.

"Stoooop!" she wailed. Barret shot fury laden looks at Cloud.

"Once a SOLDIER, always a SOLDIER," he managed to vocalize. "You actually think ya can trust him? He'll never be any good! Get outta here, 'fore I decide to use this!" he shot the last statement toward Cloud who stood in fury just in front of the door. Despite this, the words that escaped him next were ones that no one had expected.

"You don't trust me? Fine, that's understandable. But I said ex-Soldier: I want to stop Shin-ra as much as you do, and I could use the money. So I'm willing to work with you, but only because Tifa asked, not because I want anythin' to do with you."

Barret considered this for a few moments. It was obvious to Cloud what he was thinking: with a group as small as AVALANCHE was, they needed everyone that was willing. It was also obvious to Cloud that he thought that he was going against his better judgment when he said a few moments later, "If you're willin', then you c'n come."

With that, he stomped back – Marlene on shoulder – to the bar's other patrons. Tifa smiled gratefully at Cloud.

"Thanks," she muttered. Her grin then turned into one of malice and she said, "Come on, we'd better have a plan if we're gonna do anything. We're gonna make those bastards pay."

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading! If you like what you see, or you don't, don't hesitate to review. Next chapter: the plot developments you've all been waiting for! 


	4. Far Reaching Connections

**Disclaimer:** The negotiations for the characters and all other recognizable features in this fan-fiction fell apart _yet again_. So, as of now, I make no money nor am I in any way affiliated with any portion of Final Fantasy. Except as a loyal gamer, but I'm sure that applies to everyone who posts here.

**A/N:** Geez, it's been a while since I posted! With being sick, then working for honor roll, and finally a trip to Cancun for my sister's gym meet, it's been a long hectic while. As per the norm, I'd like to extend an **ENORMOUS** thanks to Judanim the Green Mage, Minako, Shara, Terra, Maya, and Rosa for reviewing. You guys made my month. However, with no further ado, here's the fourth chapter of Twin Cities.

**A/N**: For the edification of those reading, I'm going to write Cloud a very certain way, based entirely on my perception of FFVII. I'm informing you because I see Cloud as two very different people in the game: the nihilistic, often condescending, rebel-without-a-cause Cloud, who is earlier in the game, when Cloud is still grafted into Zack's persona and struggling with an identity crisis; the more open, pensive, and better attuned to people, but still sarcastic and fun-loving Cloud of the latter half of the game _and_ the voice in the back of Cloud's head early on (like in the reactor and the church).

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**Twin Cities: Far Reaching Connections**

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Yuna, Paine, and Rikku were standing on the upper deck of the Celsius as it headed for Guadosalam. Yuna couldn't stop her nerves from jittering; the feeling of hurried anticipation having become a constant over the past few weeks. Being up here helped her, though. Watching the clouds rush by, feeling the wind as it blew past, it was such an exhilarating feeling that she could usually put off her worries until she went back inside the ship. 

"Hey, lookie! We're here!" called Rikku. She was standing near the edge, shielding her face with one hand as she waved enthusiastically to the minute, dense forest that heralded their arrival in Guadosalam.

"Yuna, Rikku, Paine! We're leav-eng!" Brother's voice crackled over the intercom.

Yuna ran to the doors and cried, "We'll be right there," before making her way to the bridge, Rikku and Paine in tow.

"Good timing," Tidus greeted them as they flew onto the bridge's balcony. He had a mischievous grin plastered on his face as he added, "Brother was about to go get you himself, Yuna. He looked really concerned."

Not missing the unsubtle hint, Yuna shook her head and gave a wry smile. Before she could say anything, Shinra shuffled toward them, his progress hindered by the presence of an enormous bag and briefcase. After a few minutes of struggle – and some help from Tidus – he managed to shoulder the bag, while Buddy offered to carry the briefcase.

Buddy finally mustered up the courage to ask, "So, what exactly is in these things?"

Shinra, though usually given to extremely lengthy explanations, only muttered cryptically, "Just some stuff for monitoring the conditions in the Farplane." His friends waited for him to elaborate, but they eventually picked up that no such lecture was forthcoming and began to head down to the ramp. Shinra followed last of all, lugging the bag and thinking at an alarming speed. He had a great many theories that rested on the information he was going to gather, and he could only hope that the data would prove him right.

Guadosalam was a ghost town. In the two years since the vanquishing of Sin, most of the Guado had faced persecution, but a few had still remained. Now, there was no one; the lights that for so long had radiated from the doorways and few windows in the shops and homes were extinguished. Rikku shuddered.

"Even with Seymour gone, this place creeps me out!" she whimpered.

"Don't worry," Paine said, a sarcastic lilt to her voice, "we'll be on the Farplane before you know it." All noise from Rikku's direction was instantly muted; Rikku's dislike of the Farplane, along with that of the Thunder Plains, was legendary.

As they passed along the gentle loam floor of the town, Tidus' eyes roved over the vacant buildings.

"Geez, what happened here?" he murmured. Yuna explained about the Guados' misfortunes after the vanquishing of Sin as she led him along toward the path to the Farplane. Tidus looked uncharacteristically solemn when she finished, but he just shook his head.

After walking in thoughtful silence for a short while, the group found itself staring at the many swirling colors that made up the portal to the Farplane. Yuna found herself at the head of the group, so she took a deep breath and began to climb the stairs.

Yuna stepped up to the crystalline surface that made up the portal to the Farplane. She masked her slight shudder of apprehension in one of excitement: her last memories of this deceptively peaceful place were none too fond. She gently eased herself through it, eyes closed the entire time.

_

* * *

Cloud. _

"Huh?"

_Wake up, Cloud._

"Okay, okay."

_You have to help them._

"Wait, what's going on...?"

_You have to help them._

Cloud's eyes snapped open and darted around. He could see his frie-allies sprawled all over their room at the bar. Wedge was giving off lusty snores in the corner, rivaled only by Barret's mind-wrenching and deafening roars from Cloud's right. Easing his back against the wall, Cloud mulled over the voice, his brain itching from its presence. He didn't remember anything like this happening to him before, but, then again, his mind was still full of vast expanses of forgotten memories. Just because he could not remember ever experiencing anything like this before did not mean it had not happened.

Cloud ran his fingers through his hair, giving a remorseful sigh as he searched for a meaning in the voice's cryptic message. Unfortunately, every time he tried to think of why it was familiar, the thoughts fled from his grasp. After several minutes of nearly overwhelming frustration, he settled himself back onto his bed, composed of three chairs from one of the bar's tables, and drifted back to sleep, the voice still in his mind.

* * *

By Yevon, the Farplane was as beautiful as it had always been: richly hued flowers inundating the landscape, waterfalls in the distance. But the place held a sinister feel that belied its beauty. Yuna marveled at its duality as the others stepped through; she could see by their grimaces that their feelings were similar. Shinra began to skitter around, setting up a device here and there and fussing over their operations. Brother and Buddy moved to the edge of the platform and watched the pyreflies swarming around. 

Tidus was doing his best to keep everyone positive, though he had not been there during the fight against Vegnagun and Shuyin. He walked with Yuna and Rikku, who was still silent, to the edge and smiled despite himself. Yuna noticed.

"What is it?" she asked, an apprehensively curious look on her face. Tidus shrugged by way of a reply.

"I don't know. This place seems creepy sometimes, but it's never felt evil to me."

"You weren't here."

"I know that, but I still know what happened. Hey, you know me. I've felt things were wrong before I've ever even given 'em a chance, but this place just doesn't feel evil."

There was a grunt of humor behind them, which was followed by, "It's nice to know some people still have faith in us."

Grinning, Tidus turned around. Auron stood before them, looking the same as ever.

"Hah! Wakka owes me ten gil! I knew you couldn't resist seeing us again," Tidus teased. Rikku squealed in delight and yelped a hello, but Yuna suddenly went stiff and bowed.

"It's good to see you, Sir Auron," she said gravely. Auron grinned and came over to them. As he came up in front of Yuna, he murmured to her.

"After what you've done, Yuna, I don't think you need to bow." Yuna flushed red, but relaxed visibly and smiled.

"So, how's life treating you?" Tidus asked. Rikku ribbed him hard in the side and he winced as he amended, "I meant death."

Auron's face twisted into its old look of intimidating aloofness. He motioned with his head for them to follow him. Tidus and Yuna unquestioningly obeyed, but Rikku couldn't go without a suggestion.

"Wait, without the others?"

"I'm leaving now. If you want to summon them, that's fine with me. After all, it concerns all of you. But if you bring them, I can't tell you everything," Auron finished. Rikku looked openly perplexed as Auron began to walk off with Tidus and Yuna following him. She danced around for a second before tearing off, eager to hear the news.

They walked over blooming fields, pyreflies gently wafting near them. As they made their way through the Farplane, the beauty began to diminish and was replaced by brown rock paths that spiraled ever downward. When they had reached the edge of a high cliff, Auron continued to head toward the edge, while the others, erring on the side of prudence, decided to wait a few feet back. Auron motioned for them.

"Um, Auron? The rest of us aren't dead, and we're kinda happy about that. We'd like to stay this way for a little while, thanks," Tidus said. Rikku rolled her eyes and Yuna ignored the comment, following Auron to the edge.

"The famous Jecht wit," Auron snorted. As Yuna came up to him, he pointed into the chasm that lay before.

"Just look down," he said. Rikku, overcome by curiosity, followed suit. The most overwhelming feeling took hold of her when she peeked over the edge.

A swirling surge of blue-green energy covered the entire bottom. It flowed from the center of the Farplane out, but none of them could tell how far. The walls of the canyon were illuminated by the light that emanated from it, and a strange feeling came over them: it was as though the river was _living_.

Auron couldn't help but grin at their expressions. "The souls who return to the planet come here. This is the Lifestream."

* * *

**A/N:** Don't worry, the next chapter is all planned out, so I should have it up on the site within the week. 


	5. Enter the Players

**Disclaimer:** I should take a census on Fan Fiction: just how sick are we all of writing these things? Nonetheless, I still do not own, nor am I affiliated in any way with the magnum opus that is Final Fantasy.

**A/N: **This is a record, insofar as I know: me, the procrastinating champion of the world, posting multiple chapters in a single week. A feat unparalleled! As usual, I would like to thank the person who is making this all worthwhile for me, the also unparalleled Judanim the Green Mage, who has reviewed every chapter! You have my heartiest thanks, and some more Auron to boot. I'd also like to thank Minako for reviewing yet again. Also, to utilize the real function of the a/n, I say that yes, there is a blood connection between the characters in FFVII and FFX-2 in this story. Though this is so, it may turn out that some connections are a little different than might be imagined (aside from the obvious: Cloud and Tidus, Shinra and Rufus, etc.). Now, on to the story!

* * *

**Twin Cities: Enter the Players

* * *

**

Tidus stood mesmerized, his eyes widened to their fullest at the sight he beheld. He, Yuna, and Rikku stood inarticulate at the awe-inspiring presence of the Lifestream. Rikku, unable to wrench her gaze from the gripping energy beneath her, queried Auron while she kept her vision affixed to it, "What is this?"

"As I said, it's the souls of people who return to the planet," Auron said.

Finally managing to look Auron in the face, Rikku's puzzled expression forced him elaborate, a thing rarely done. Though a guiding force in his younger friends' lives, he usually preferred to leave his statements – to Tidus infuriatingly – ambiguous.

"When I came here with Braska twelve years ago, I didn't notice this place either. It was only after Sin was destroyed that I found this. After I'd been awake here a few days, I started wandering around this place, and I was drawn to it," he explained. Tidus and Yuna were now listening intently along with Rikku, so he asked all of them something: "You're all aware that pyreflies supposedly take the shape of the dead, yes?" They nodded soundlessly. Auron gave a morbid and twisted grin as he continued: "That's not entirely true. The pyreflies do it in conjunction with the Lifestream. The pyreflies merely give form to the energy that was the person, which is now contained in the Lifestream. So really, the pyreflies are just a device used by the souls of those in there to communicate with their loved ones after death. I guess you could say that this is the lifeblood of Spira: all spiritual energy in the world, the stuff of life? That comes from here. The Lifestream is all the life that ever was or will be."

As he finished, Auron took note of their identical expressions; they looked as though this was one revelation too many.

Yuna's mind was reeling, her emotions awhirl with this new information. She tried her best to take it one step at a time. That this _river_ – for lack of a better term, as it was so much more – contained the life force of the whole of Spira was just too much to fathom. Yuna stood there, desperately trying to come to grips with this.

Tidus, being a far more vocal person by nature, couldn't contain his equal measures of astonishment and skepticism from making themselves known in the most succinct way.

"WHAT!" Tidus shook his head after his outburst.

"I think I've explained it well enough," said Auron.

"You know exactly what I'm getting at, Auron!" Tidus growled.

"Wait! Just hold your chocobos!" Rikku cried, holding up her hands in surrender. She shuffled around the dirt, kicking it up with her sneakers as she tried to string a sentence together.

"W-w-why, wha….Why…Have you showed this to anybody else, Auron?" she finally managed to squeak. Auron shook his head.

"No one except you," he said tonelessly. He shifted himself once and looked at her squarely.

"Why not?" Yuna asked. Auron gave the slightly feral smile again. He didn't even need to answer, as Tidus did so for him, albeit contemptuously so.

"Yeah, and that would be _so_ like Auron, actually telling people something important _before_ some big crisis has come along. So what's the catch?"

"Interesting that you should say that…" Auron mused.

"Oh, you're kidding right? Right? Come on!" Tidus half groaned, following it with a slightly manic laugh. Rikku backed away from him, eyebrows lifted and a very cautious expression on her. Yuna sighed, but she took the situation by the horns, as usual.

"So why did you show this to us?"

Auron narrowed his eyes and said surreptitiously, "You know the Farplane holds energy enough to power the world. But if you try to harness it, you'll get more than you bargained for. Actually, if is the wrong word. When would be more appropriate."

"Okay, back to the questioning phase," said Tidus, "So how do you know that we knew about the energy?"

At this, Auron fell silent once more. With a pensive look upon his face, he turned and walked off again. Tidus responded by throwing up his hands in exasperation before turning to Yuna and Rikku with a look that plainly said, 'How much gall does he have?' Yuna paused only long enough to gently take hold of his arm before starting off after Auron while Rikku ran ahead. Tidus rolled his eyes, but the firm grip she held on his forearm forced him to shuffle along after her.

Over the rocky and unfriendly terrain, down a steep and jagged path into the gorge Auron led them. They ended up on a small parcel of land, the end of which was deluged by the Lifestream. Now that they were closer, the radiance of it was almost blinding, and the energy was palpable, winding its way around and through them. Tidus could feel, more than hear, the chorus of innumerable voices calling to him. Yuna and Rikku's awestruck faces were a visual testament to his feelings. Yuna slowly reached out, and ran her fingers through the air, feeling the power that flowed through the gorge.

Auron stepped to the edge, where he lowered himself so that he sat on his heels. He then reached out a hand, and his fingers were engulfed by the glowing energy. A smile appeared on his face and he turned to Tidus.

"Come here, then put your hand in," he instructed. Tidus looked bewildered, but he obeyed Auron: he, too, sat on his haunches at the edge of the shore and stretched his right hand out. His hand tingled for a moment, before his mind was blown to a completely surreal place, like none he had ever seen.

* * *

As much as she liked the idea of crippling Shin-ra, Tifa felt jittery about tonight's excursion to the reactor, even though she herself was not going this time. Apparently, everyone else, including Cloud, was feeling similarly, as tempers had been running rampant all day. Jesse had locked herself in the basement, revising their I.D. cards yet again. Wedge was chattering away to a completely oblivious Biggs, who was busy getting himself ready for tonight by muttering encouragement with a look of slightly savage glee. Barret had started to get edgy, and so had wisely departed the bar earlier with a grunt that he would return, and they had all better be ready. Cloud was seated at the bar, a bottle of some form of liquor to his left, though he was not drinking. He was leaning on the counter with his left elbow as he stared blindly into thin air while running his right hand repeatedly through his sandy spikes. 

Tifa walked over to him, working a bar rag around a newly washed glass. She bent down and peered into his face.

"Hello in there. Are you feeling okay?"

Cloud started and he shook his head as he met her eyes. He looked at her strangely and began to speak.

"It's nothing. I just had this really weird dream last night," he murmured. Tifa's face was thoughtful as she replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she urged lightly. His face twisted as he considered her offer for a moment, but he then gave a brief synopsis of the previous night, and the unsettling dream with the eerie voice. Tifa's compassionate demeanor led her to offer some suggestions, but in all honesty, she wasn't sure what to think.

"Did it happen more than once last night?" she asked. Cloud shook his head by way of a reply.

"Just once. But it didn't feel like I was imagining it, Tifa." Cloud's face settled into a grimace, and he refused to talk about it anymore. Tifa generally would have pushed him, but she felt that today, with everyone on edge, was not the right day. Cloud rose from the bar and said good-bye, and then headed through the doorway.

* * *

The sight before him had to have been conjured up as an elaborate joke, Tidus decided. He obviously was not physically in this place – he was sure that they would have noticed him by now – but it was nonetheless overwhelming. He had just witnessed the discourse between the two young people, one of whom bore a strange likeness to himself in looks. The other, the woman, reminded him slightly of someone, but he could not put his finger on it. 

As the young man reached the door and exited into the outside, Tidus – in his non-corporeal state – followed suit.

There was not a single word in Tidus' repertoire that could describe the sight that he beheld next. While the bar was obviously not much more than the centerpiece of a ramshackle, sordid slum, even this place was so bizarre in comparison to Spira. Here, there were lights and machines everywhere, the people were attired in the most outlandish garments: every moment he spent here, Tidus could count three things that proved he was not in any place he had seen before. The biggest of these was that this slum had no sky: high above even the tallest buildings here was a gargantuan metal structure, so big that Tidus could just barely see its end in the distance. He had not the faintest idea what it actually looked like, because its size made it impossible to discern its shape.

Tidus wanted to stand and gape at this place for a while, but as the young man started to move again, he felt himself being pulled along, strangely enough. He figured it would not hurt to follow the man for a short while, and allowed himself to be dragged along. But while he gazed upon a place far more alien than Zanarkand, he felt his consciousness drift away from this place, and all went black.

* * *

**A/N**: Alright! Two chapters in a little over a week! Tune in next time to find out a little bit of how the heredity is going to work in this story. (Some of them are quite interesting.) 


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